Ex-Ukrainian defence minister calls for wartime elections

Ukraine's ousted Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections in a bombshell address, arguing the nation faced a crisis of governance, in the biggest internal challenge to President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia's invasion.

Mr Fedorov's call, delivered in a video address posted on YouTube, is the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during wartime.

"Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia," Mr Fedorov said. "We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war."

The 35-year-old was a longtime ally of Mr Zelensky's until his unexpected firing from the Defence Ministry in July, just six months after he had been appointed, vowing sweeping reforms.

Shortly after his dismissal, the tech-savvy Mr Fedorov publicly tore into the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, exposing a bitter rift between the men and their different visions for the war.

Thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to demand the sacking of Mr Syrskyi - an old-guard military commander blamed by his critics for heavy troop losses at the front line - and Mr Fedorov's reinstatement.

Although Mr Zelensky said he had dismissed Mr Fedorov because of his inability to work with Mr Syrskyi, the president fired the military chief shortly afterwards under public pressure.

Protests in support of Mr Fedorov have continued for the past month, losing some of their early momentum but still regularly drawing a couple thousand attendees in Kyiv.

While Mr Fedorov did not say in his address that he would compete in any election, a recent poll indicated the ex-minister would comfortably beat Mr Zelensky in a runoff vote, where the top two presidential candidates go head-to-head.

Challenge to Zelensky

Mr Fedorov's statement came just hours after Mr Zelensky confirmed he had asked parliament to confirm new Minister for Defence Yevhenii Khmara in office yesterday.

In what appeared to be an open challenge to Mr Zelensky, Mr Fedorov said Ukraine faced a "systemic crisis of governance."

"The old system lives by its own rules too often. It protects itself. It is scared of change," he said.

Without providing names, Mr Fedorov condemned official corruption, which he said hurt Ukraine's war effort.

The ex-minister recently said he believed his reform of the Defence Ministry's procurement processes, responsible for purchasing billions of dollars of equipment, contributed to his sacking.

Mr Zelensky's office had no immediate comment on Mr Fedorov's address.

The youngest minister in Ukraine's history when he was appointed aged 28 as Ukraine's digitalisation chief, Mr Fedorov spent six years in that post.

He was the last remaining member of Mr Zelensky's first cabinet in 2019.

His role running the Ministry of Digital Transformation saw him become an early adopter of drone warfare, which has turned combat in Ukraine on its head since 2022.

However, his nationwide profile grew greatly after his appointment to run the vast Defence Ministry in January, immediately vowing a data-driven overhaul.

Unlike his predecessors, Mr Fedorov publicly laid out a strategy to defeat Russia through attrition and technological superiority.

"Our people have long been ready for a different country," Mr Fedorov said in his address. "Now, our state must become worthy of its people."

Five killed in Russian attacks on Kherson

A Russian drone attack on a bus in the frontline city of Kherson in southern Ukraine killed four people and left another four wounded, the regional prosecutor's office said.

Another woman was killed and a man wounded in a separate drone attack on a car in the central part of the city, the governor of the surrounding region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.

Russian forces regularly strike the city - under Moscow's control from March to November 2022 - with drones, in what Ukraine says is purposeful targeting of civilians.

"Russian military forces attacked a bus travelling down a street in Kherson with a drone. As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, four civilian passengers were killed," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

It added that four more people were wounded.

Mr Prokudin posted images showing the bus with its windows shattered.

Ukraine earlier this month accused Russia of chasing a man on a street market in Kherson with a remotely piloted FPV drone, calling it a "safari" targeting civilians.

The city had a population of around 280,000 before the war.

Russian forces, repelled from the city by a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the autumn of 2022, are now positioned on the opposite bank of the Dnieper river which flows past Kherson.

There has been an uptick in civilian deaths in the conflict throughout 2026, the United Nations has reported, as the four-and-a-half-year war grinds on with no sign of a peace deal.